Eric Hoddersen retires after leading Neighborhood Progress Inc.

View full sizeLisa DeJong / The Plain DealerEric Hoddersen, president and CEO of Neighborhood Progress Inc., stands in one of his successful and sustainable neighborhoods called Central Commons near East 36th Street and Central Avenue in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Few people know Cleveland as well as Eric Hoddersen.

After 20 years heading Neighborhood Progress Inc., he can point out the Ohio City office building that will soon get a major overhaul, show you the spruced-up model block where Tremont residents chase away blight, and name the years that rows of tidy homes and then a retail strip arrived to stabilize the low-income Central area.

But now Hoddersen is moving to a new neighborhood, after his time spent unifying and supporting the work of Cleveland's community development corporations.

He is heading back to his home state of Oregon with wife Carolyn Platt, after recently retiring at age 64.

As only the second director of Neighborhood Progress, Hoddersen turned the agency into one that thrived while similar groups in other cities failed, industry officials say.

"He's had a big impact," yet his achievements are underappreciated, buried under Cleveland's bad rap as a miserable city, said India Pierce Lee, Cleveland Foundation program director.

"Talk to people nationally, they'll tell you Cleveland's community development is a national model," she said.

Many praise Neighborhood Progress's role in battling the local foreclosure crisis. During the past 18 months, the agency bought and rehabbed 50 abandoned properties with the help of Cleveland Housing Network. Twenty of the homes have been resold.

The agency also helped build hundreds of homes that have been "islands of stability" with relatively few mortgage defaults, said Ned Hill, dean of Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs. "I dread to see what Cleveland would be like if Eric and NPI hadn't been there to strengthen these neighborhoods before the foreclosure disaster hit."

The organization was launched in 1987 with foundation dollars. It provides operating support and helps secure millions in annual funding for the city's patchwork of community development groups.

Hoddersen laughed when he compared the neighborhood improvement process to helping bake a cake. Development leaders choose their recipe, put it in the oven and take credit for the finished product -- but before anybody starts baking, it falls to Neighborhood Progress to evaluate whether people will want the cake.

"We help, we advise, we provide some of the ingredients, but we're not the chef," he said.

During his 20 years, his staff has fine-tuned how it evaluates projects. They look at real estate values and demographics, and tie the ideas to assets already in the community.

Hoddersenpreviously managed a Gordon Square renovation and held other community development jobs.

Much has changed since those early years. Today, there's a more holistic approach toward creating not only homes but also an attractive reason to live in a neighborhood.

Projects his agency supports became multi-layered, like Ohio City's walkable neighborhood that is peppered with upscale condos and locally owned stores.

Yet, Hoddersen acknowledged his assessments have sometimes been wrong. He was slow to come on board with Reimagining Cleveland,a project that lets local folks transform abandoned lots into green space. The concept went on to earn Neighborhood Progress a big role in the city's long-range sustainability plan.

"And I didn't really think the Gordon Square arts district would go as far as it did," he added.

Hoddersen and his wife will keep their home in the Buckeye-Shaker area. He plans to return often as a consultant. A national search has been launched for his successor.

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